The Thing That Eddy Did
by hogan macgyver
Summary: Reactions make big impressions on others. So the question is, if it ever happened would he do the same? Written for 96 Hubbles' "3rd Hogan's Heroes Short-Story Speed-Writing Competition"


**The Thing That Eddy Did**

_Usual disclaimers: I don't own "Hogan's Heroes" and I'm not making money off of this._

_This was written for the "3rd Hogan's Heroes Short-Story Speed-Writing Competition"_

_The object of the game: To write a story, within the time allotted, by using one of the seven lines provided as your starting line._

* * *

><p><strong>They caught him after he had killed the second man<strong>. Sgt. Eddy Boothman knew he should have just run but something inside him told him to kill the German officer or get killed and he even said so. Now he and his best friend were sitting around in a ten by thirteen cell waiting. All of that work trying to escape from a POW camp and they were in a new jail. There had to be something ironic in all of that he said aloud.

"Hey Eddy, how much time do you think we have left?" a voice asked quietly.

Boothman shrugged absentmindedly and sat back against the wall. "I don't know..." His pal looked down at the ground as if wishing them out of there. It wouldn't work but that didn't stop him from trying. "Hey, come on, Kinch. You aren't the one they're shooting. Although, right now ya sure look it." He gave the bigger man a nudge. "The others got away."

Sgt. James Kinchloe managed a small grin. Eddy was always looking on the bright side, even when they were kids back in Detroit. He was like that. They had signed up for the war and somehow had been placed in the same bomber crew. Not long ago their plane was shot down and they ended up in a POW camp. "Probably half way to England" Kinch replied, keeping with the spirit of the conversation.

"Naw, they're already there. Getting the best night sleep they've ever gotten."

"Are you kidding? They've long since woken up and now they're having dinner."

"I bet they've finished that and are already on their way back to the States."

Kinch snorted in mock disbelieve. "What are you talking about? They're home."

Their banter was cut short as the cell door swung open with a groan and a pair of guards came in. "Lassen Sie uns gehen" one of them said and motioned to Boothman.

"See ya on the other side, buddy. I'm going home" Eddy said, with a wink. He slowly got up and went with the guards, then turned around and said to Kinch. "Don't forget that you're the best of the bunch and don't let anybody tell ya otherwise, you hear?"

* * *

><p>"Kinch, the barracks is burning down!" a voice shouted next to him.<p>

The sergeant snapped out of his dream, or nightmare in his case, and looked around the room wildly. "What?" For a moment he didn't recognize where he was and then everything came back to him. He was sitting at the table beside his CO, waiting for the other guys of Hogan's core team to get back from their mission. He was in Stalag 13 and not anywhere near where that nightmare had happened.

"The barracks is fine. You didn't answer my question or respond to anything, so I said that" Hogan reassured him, noticing the panicked expression on his friend's face.

"Gosh Colonel, what were you trying to do, give me a heart attack?" Kinch asked as he breathed a sigh of relief. One minute he had been listening to the conversation and the next he was off on an unpleasant trip down memory lane. A time when his best friend from childhood got executed for saving their group of barracks escapees by killing two enemy officers who started shooting at them. Kinch had been one of the last to run with Boothman behind him. Unfortunately, the two of them had been captured by soldiers; one of them died and the other got sent to Stalag 13.

"Not intentionally, but you were getting me worried. Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Just thinking about some stuff." There was something nagging at the back of his brain. Kinch always had the same question whenever he thought about that night. _"If I was in Eddy's place would I react the same way for these guys?"_ he thought to himself.

"Look, if you are worried about-" Hogan started to say, but was interrupted by the trapdoor bunk lifting up.

A couple of the men in building who were still awake, rushed over to see who it was, including the two of them. Everyone could hear their arguing before they even got near the ladder.

"What took you so long?" Hogan asked them, not even bothering to hide the worried tone in his voice.

"It's kind of 'ard arming the explosives without knowing 'ow long to set the timers" Newkirk complained in his defense and swung a leg over the bunk.

"It is not mon fault that you kept setting everything up inexactement" LeBeau retorted from the tunnel. He scurried up the ladder before Newkirk continued.

"Boy, you should have just let me do it" Carter chimed in. "Next time I'm going and you get to be the distraction, Newkirk."

"Could you guys keep it down? The Germans are on the other side of the wall" Kinch tried hushing them.

They continued with their arguing, but this time they changed the volume of their voices a touch.

"If you two 'adn't rushed me out of the tunnel then I would 'ave remembered how to use those new blooming timers."

"And if you-" LeBeau began.

"All right, all right, pipe down" Hogan ordered sternly and the whole barracks went silent. "Did you get the train tracks wired up?"

Carter spoke up. "Sure did, boy- I mean, Sir." He waved his hands excitedly to emphasize what he was going to say next. "It's going to go up with the biggest blast since-"

A faint boom could be heard from far off, interrupting the Tech Sergeant and the Colonel's face lit up with a smirk. "The sound of German train tracks blowing up... nice sound to fall asleep to, don't you think?"

"Oui. It is a nice sound" LeBeau agreed, grinning broadly.

Kinch, with a smile on his face, said, "I don't know about that. Sonar towers are pretty good too."

"Personally I think 'earing Jerry munitions convoys or ball bearing factories exploding is much better" Newkirk remarked.

They all noticed a sad look on Carter's face and Kinch asked what was wrong.

"The explosion wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be" Carter replied, clearly disappointed.

The POWs of Barracks Two who were still awake smothered their laughter, but the others who were sleeping heard and started grumbling from their respective bunks.

"All of those are good, too" their CO agreed after pretending to give it some thought. "Better get some sleep before the Krauts come in to do an inspection, though. Oh and fellas." The trio who had gone out stopped short from walking to their beds and turned to face Hogan. "Good work."

There were a chorus of thanks and they tumbled into their own bunks.

As the radio man closed the trap door, his question came back into his mind. He stood around for a few minutes longer, trying to think of an answer, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, are you alright?" Hogan asked in a whisper.

Kinchloe merely nodded.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, Colonel."

"Good night, Kinch," he sighed and went to his office to catch forty winks.

The question came yet again and this time the sergeant had an answer. _"If that ever happened again, I'd do the same thing he did"_ he thought as he climbed into his bunk. _"That was why he did it... it was the thing that Eddy did."_ With that Sgt. James Kinchloe fell asleep.


End file.
